It depends on inotify (a Linux kernel feature incorporated in kernel 2.6.13), which is an event-driven notifier, its notifications are exported from kernel space to user space via three system calls.

The purpose of pyinotiy is to bind the three system calls, and support an implementation on top of them providing a common and abstract means to manipulate those functionalities.

In this article, we will show you how to install and use pyinotify in Linux to monitor filesystem changes or modifications in real-time.

Dependencies

In order to use pyinotify, your system must be running:

Linux kernel 2.6.13 or higher

Python 2.4 or higher

How to Install Pyinotify in Linux

First start by checking the kernel and Python versions installed on your system as follows:

# uname -r
# python -V

Once dependencies are met, we will use pip to install pynotify. In most Linux distributions, Pip is already installed if you’re using Python 2 >=2.7.9 or Python 3 >=3.4 binaries downloaded from python.org, otherwise, install it as follows:

Aaron Kili is a Linux and F.O.S.S enthusiast, an upcoming Linux SysAdmin, web developer, and currently a content creator for TecMint who loves working with computers and strongly believes in sharing knowledge.

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